Richland County · Marker 40-210
Blythewood School
501 Main St., Blythewood
Front inscription
The first school here built c.1890 was a one-room frame building. In 1921 a two-story brick schoolhouse and auditorium replaced the original school. The New Deal-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped fund several projects here including the construction of a new gymnasium in 1938. The two-story school was razed in 1958 and replaced by the one-story building that remains today. The 1921 auditorium and the 1938 gymnasium also survive.
Reverse inscription
When Richland Co. decided to consolidate their school districts in 1951 Blythewood was one of four schools in the new Richland School District 2. For much of its history Blythewood School remained segregated and only open to white students. That ended in 1969 when Richland District 2, along with school districts throughout S.C., implemented desegregation plans. From 1970-1991 the building housed Blythewood Elementary, and then in 1994 became Blythewood Academy.